2013 - New Directioms
2012 was an interesting year. It had some ups and some downs, and many lessons were learnt.
The Blog
One of the good things about 2012 was the increased exposure of this blog and the higher number of regular readers who have become interested in the things being done by Vulpinoid Studios.
I don't know that I'll be able to keep up the frantic pace of blog posting, every day or two, so I expect interest in the blog to die down a little. My energies will be focused in other areas over the upcoming year.
Hell on Eight Wheels
I had really hoped to finish this project over 2012, but lack of funds for a good prototype basically stopped me in my tracks. Arguably this is a good thing, because later in the year I discovered advances in 3D printing that will allow me to produce my own custom figures for the game.
Walkabout
This is another project that I'd love to have completed by the "Mayan Apocalypse". But it's also the project that I most want to "get right", that probably means it will remain my unfinished masterpiece for quite some time. This is no reason to stop working on it, it fact it's more reason to get things in order. I'll certainly be contributing more to Walkabout over the course of 2013, hopefully to see it finished at some stage this year.
Ghost City Raiders
Pocketmods were one of the surprises of 2012 for me. I knew about them earlier, but I didn't really bother playing with them as a format. NaGaDeMon changed all that, and the first of my Pocketmod games seems to have had a generally positive critical reception.
At this time I have 10 starting characters for Ghost City Raiders and 8 starting scenarios. I really want to have 10 of each before I formally publish the game over on RPGNow (mostly because it looks better with nice round numbers). Going through my files over the past couople of days it even looks like I have three or four incomplete character types for the game to move forward with, it's just those extra scenario ideas that are slowing me down.
Personally, I'm happy with Ghost City Raiders and the playtesting it has received so far. The game has pulled together a range of ideas that had been brewing in the back of my mind for quite some time, and it seems to make a good stepping stone back toward my other unfinished masterpiece, the untitled goblin labyrinth game.
Tooth and Claw
This little game was just something that had to come out. It's a lot of fun crammed into a small number of small pages. 2012 has been a successful year if only for the production of this game.
Where now?
There are a few directions that I'd like to move in 2013.
Firstly, I produced a few maps recently and they've seen some good responses. I might try to include a regular map feature in the blog. Something where I draw a map once a week, then provide some story ideas that could go with it.
Secondly, I'd like to resume some of the "regular" columns I started in 2012. The one where I tried to analyse what a game was about purely based on it's layout and table of contents is a good candidate for this. Another is the ongoing development and detailing of the walkabout world...I think some good cultural development would be in order for some regular posts.
Thirdly, during 2012 I picked up a new regular gaming group. So it might be time to start writing about a few more "actual play" experiences, perhaps linking more thoughts about game design vector theory back into the physical experiences of roleplaying.
For actual design work, I hope that there will be more of this in 2013. Knocking out a few game ideas (characters for Ghost City Raiders, expansions for Tooth and Claw, completing unfinished projects), redeveloping the Vulpinoid Studios website, drawing, painting, illustrating...and that's not including the regular routine of work and study...so much to do, so little time.
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